BP files for IPO of U.S. pipeline assets

British energy company BP on Monday filed for an initial public offering of its U.S. pipeline assets.

BP Midstream Partners LP, the master limited partnership (MLP) formed by BP’s U.S. pipeline unit, said in a regulatory filing it plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BPMP”.

An MLP is a tax-advantaged structure often used by pipeline and other capital intensive companies. They do not pay corporate income tax on distributions, or earnings, to partners.

The offering comes nearly two months after BP laid out plans to spin off some of its U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast pipeline assets in an IPO to raise cash.

The IPO revives a plan first broached internally about five years ago before slumping crude oil prices caused BP to put the idea on hold, a source told Reuters in July.

Other energy companies that have spun off their pipeline assets include Royal Dutch Shell — which in 2014 raised nearly $1 billion in the largest master limited partnership IPO to date — and refiners such as Valero Energy Corp, Tesoro Corp and Marathon Petroleum Corp.